Recent Posts

Featured Posts

17 Reasons Why Women Make Great Leaders

Undiversified and homogenous leadership limits business development (Hewlett, Marshall & Sherbin, 2013). A leaders gender should not be an influential factor of leadership. Whether one is female or male should not predict whether they are capable of being an effective leader.

In order to promote female leaders and argue against homogenous leadership ‘Business News Daily’ listed 17 reasons (compiling of quotes) as to why women should be considered great leaders (Helmrich, 2016).

17 reasons women make great leaders;

1.Vale of work-life balance.

"Women are able to balance professional and personal leadership skills. It's easier to approach a women leader with a personal request, or a sensitive question. I care about my team and their well-being, which includes their performance at work and their work-life balance. I also find women more proactive in becoming mentors, and sometimes it's already such an open and communicative relationship transitions to mentors are easy." – Amy Killoran, creative manager, I Love Travel

2. Empathy

"Women are recognised as being naturally empathetic and value relationships. Enabling them to have a strong understanding of what drives and motivates people, and how to acknowledge different people for their performance." – Anna Crowe, CEO and founder, Crowe PR

3.Great listeners.

"Women take the time to listen. Showing appreciation towards people and their viewpoints. Whether right or wrong, we hear them out and then make our decision. We tend to give people chances that others don’t often do." – Jo Hausman, career and leadership coach and author, "Go For It! A Woman's Guide to Perserverance" (Best Seller Publishing, 2016)

Nurturing.

"A key aspect of leadership is the ability to help your team members develop their own skills and strengths. Being naturally nurturing in the best scenarios can translate to helping those around you succeed." – Marilyn Heywood Paige, vice president of marketing, FiG Advertising

5. Strong focus on teamwork.

"The women [I've worked with] consistently demonstrate passion, enthusiasm and an immense capacity to serve and be served by others. I've observed bold and wise decisions as leaders whilst relying on others to be part of their team. The environment is less authoritarian and more cooperative,but with solid leadership." – Katharine M. Nohr, principal, Nohr Sports Risk Management [See Related Story: 12 Businesses You Didn't Know Were Started by Women]

6. Multitasking

"Women make great leaders as we are natural multitaskers. The ability to decisively and quickly respond to simultaneous and different tasks or problems at a time is a critical component to successful leadership." – Carolann Tutera, president, SottoPelle

7.Motivated by challenges.

"Creative problem solvers motivated by obstacles. The desire to overcome a challenge fuels us to get things accomplished. Leaders should never take 'no' for an answer." – Jackie Zlatanovski, founder, Flik Flops

They're strong communicators.

" Whether communicating with employers, co-workers, or partners, an open communication stream allows for clarity in executing roles and responsibilities. Female business leaders are able to communicate regularly, clearly and openly." – Tina Bacon-DeFrece, president,Big Frog

Dreaming big.

"Women make great leaders because they have an innate ability to dream big, challenge assumptions and inspire teams — and they know how to translate big ideas into concrete action and results." – Angela Dejene, executive vice president, Crosswind Media & Public Relations

Handle crisis situations well.

"Many women, especially moms, are trained caretakers and know how to deal with crisis situations at home with compassion and patience. These attributes become very relevant when a woman leader is dealing with crisis situations whether this is related to HR or [clients]." – Huma Gruaz, president and CEO, Alpaytac PR

Able to wear many hats.

"Often balancing careers, households and even aging parents, among other things. Women pivot, adjust and focus on solutions. Resting in the doom and gloom can be time-consuming, so many shift to find positive solutions to life and work problems." – Gretchen Halpin, chief strategy officer, Hewins Financial Advisors

Check their egos.

"Ego so often gets in the way of good decision-making in the C-suite. Women exhibit ego differently and they are good at decision-making with the ego held in check. This is a key advantage in working with boards of directors, partners and customers." – Joan Wrabetz, CTO, Quali

High emotional intelligence.

"Emotional intelligence — the ability to recognize emotions in yourself and others and relate — is something that has recently gained momentum as an essential leadership behavior. I believe this is something that comes more naturally to women than men, and is something that I've personally encountered in my career. To truly create a great place to work and to get the best of out employees, demonstrating emotional intelligence as a leader is critical." – Lakshmi Raj, co-founder and co-CEO, Replicon

Flexible.

"Women make great leaders because we are flexible, and agile. We can see the direction we thought we should take our company in isn't working and we regroup and change course for the better without much deliberation." – Danita Harris, CEO, Rated M

Leading by example.

"Women lead by example, and in so many cases, women have climbed the ladder so they have experienced a variety of roles before they get to the leadership ones. Experience is key." – Harriet Taub, executive director,Materials for the Arts

Effortless.

"I believe women make phenomenal leaders because they are experts at making the impossible seem possible. And sometimes on a good day they even make it look effortless. Women are pragmatic, resilient and usually able to maneuver tricky situations with grace. Their perspectives are borne out of a mix of trial by fire and sheer fortitude. They look at the world with bravery and are able to piece together the world around them like a complex puzzle." – Jody Clower, founder and CEO, Nestiny

Defying the odds.

"Women make great leaders because the odds are against us to lead. When you're the underdog, it takes an extra push to get to the top. That's why the women who emerge on top are extraordinarily strong and capable. We had to fight to get there!" – Sarah Attman, principal, Sarah Rose Public Relations

This is not to say males are incapable, but more so raises the question ‘Why are women deemed as less capable?’ Women leaders are equally effective leaders. Diversifying leadership and increasing female leaders helps to deter homogenous leadership, aiming to reduce prejudice. Women have influential qualities regarding typical leadership styles (as demonstrating in the reasons above) but have to battle the constant disadvantages of prejudicial evaluations. Companies and organizations can reduce prejudice by appointing women in key positions thus encouraging progressive social change (Carli & Eagly, 2003).http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984303000584